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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

favorite things

While this space was lying fallow and empty of the usual loop-the-loop mess that is my typings, I was doing other stuff. SOUNDS INTERESTING! Maybe that just means the loopies stayed in my brain instead of out in the wilderness of the internets. The loopiness is a zero sum game. No, maybe more an imaginary numbers game. Lose lose.

See? i. This is what you have been missing. Not much.

So I thought I'd make a list of some things that I've enjoyed during the past few months. Because I don't really have anything to talk about anyway. And also, I keep making mental notes of things that I'm hating and it's just so easy that I figure I need an exercise in positive thinking.

Book! I'm reading again! Isn't this lovely?! One recent read was Mavis Gallant's Varieties of Exile, a collection of short stories, which is not as heavy as that title seems to me at the moment. I am hearting NYRB! That is not so difficult.I've also gone into Barnes & Noble a few times to gaze at the books but not buy them just yet, because I have a gift card and you know, I want to buy the bestest books ever. (Any recs???) So for now, I'm just eyeing them all. But sometimes they are just very pretty. Is it me or are books prettier nowadays? Wow, that sounded inane. A few weeks ago, I was walking with a friend and actually asked, "What is that white stuff that is falling from the sky?" It looked like styrofoam and I didn't feel cold. HOW COULD IT HAVE BEEN SNOW??? Um, back to books...I forget how I came across this link, but I do love Peter Mendelsund's fabulous book cover designs. He works for Knopf. What a funny collection of consonants. Knopf.Even though it was started back in November, the NPR (mostly) music blog Monitor Mix written by Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney fame has finally entered the blogroll (I'll have a cinnamon bun, chocolate croissant and a blogroll... hahahahaha.. undercooked!). She's a great, exploring writer and pretty damn funny at times in a totally understated way, whether writing about being at SXSW in her latest post, liveblogging the Grammys or making her own Maxim-style "pre"-reviews. Sometimes she writes about music that I really have little to no familiarity with, but that's OK! Cuz she's grrrrreat. Also, hadn't listened to S-K in awhile, and why did I forget that they totally rock??One last thing for today, but oh so definitely not least, is actually also NPR-related. Oh the many hearts I have for Radiolab. This jewel of a show is actually a few years old, though with very few episodes a season because they take so long to produce and put together. It explores various science-y/big topic matters like Morality or Sleep or Stress, weaving together interviews and exposition and sound clips along with the musings and banter of the two hosts Jad Abumrad (hello radio voice crush!) and Robert Krulwich. The show is constructed a bit like you're discovering things along with the hosts and it feels like a little journey into something big! and important! The show's one of those things that I am not devouring greedily but savoring so, so slowly, picking and choosing among the archives and relishing the fact that there are more episodes to hear.